It is easy to see Medea as a betrayed wife and to forget that she is also vindictive and heartless. How do you see Medea?
Euripides’s Medea explores the conflict between a demigoddess and the male patriarchy amidst a breakdown of marital vows. Medea can be easily perceived to be a victim of Jason and the male dominant society through the misogynism she suffers. Medea’s persuasive rhetoric, along with the complete support of The Chorus and The Nurse, positions the audience to align with her, having suffered “suffering’s worse”. However, her extreme acts of injustices manifest the extent of her vindictiveness and heartlessness. Finally, Euripides presents Medea as an individual that is multidimensional. To such an extent that perhaps her heartlessness is the direct consequence of being a disrespected female figure in a male dominant society. Whilst, Euripides positions us to intensely empathise her piteous
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It is apparent that to some extent, Medea like all other women, are mere fodder of the patriarchal society in Corinth. Medea’s intelligent and cunning manipulation of words to her advantage successfully arouses the empathy from the Nurse, The Chorus and the audience. Euripides proves that Medea is much more than a ‘betrayed wife’, and shows that despite the injustices she faces, she is a capable, iconoclastic and independent individual. As a consequence of Medea’s heinous and immoral acts the audience is constantly reaffirmed of her callosity. Ultimately, Medea explores the notion that when an individual is forced to absolute desperation, their last resort of gaining attention is to commit an abominable act of violence. Medea’s macabre act of filicide can be seen as the ultimate political sacrifice and the final attempt to rebel against the patriarchal